Starting at Forever and Ending at Never
by Wreckless Righter
Summary: The raft is a success! Charlie and Claire live together in LA with Aaron. Their relationship progresses, though it's still a constant roller coaster.
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never  
CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire  
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)  
EPISODES: After "Exodus", if the raft were to work.  
STATUS: Chapter one of -?  
BETA READER: Harlequin  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. I do not own LOST. I only own the imagination to create this fic.

Quickie:   
My first C/C fic! I'm so excited! Please give me feedback!

**Chapter 1**

It was exactly a year after the raft set sail. It was successful, and the rest of the survivors of flight 815 that were stranded on the island were rescued. They all had a huge goodbye feast on the rescue ship where tons of hugs, and kisses and speeches were passed around. The biggest goodbyes went to Shannon and Kate. Everyone sent their condolences to Shannon for the loss of Boone. They all said goodbye to Kate and wished her good luck with her case, although she knew she wouldn't be free anytime in her future. Jack and Kate had a hard time saying goodbye, when Kate was being taken off in cuffs. After that, everyone went their separate ways.

Charlie was set to return to L.A., keeping his promise that Claire and "Turniphead", now Aaron, could stay with him. He certainly hadn't expected to see Liam on the platform when getting off the ship. He immediately introduced Claire and Aaron, and they flew to L.A. together in a private jet. He was right about Driveshaft's success since he had been assumed dead. But now that he was home and alive, it was bigger than he expected. The three of them lived in a large, comfortable apartment. Aaron was lucky enough to have his own little nursery, and Claire and Charlie, of course, shared a room.

Since Aaron's arrival, Charlie and Claire had grown closer. They were almost like a family on the island. Charlie even wrote a song on the island about Aaron called "Ode to Turniphead". They had shared their first kiss on the beach, when taking a walk. Of course, only five minutes later, Aaron started crying causing them to break apart. But since then, the two were inseparable.

It was a Saturday night, and Charlie was sitting on his bed, still fully dressed, strumming his guitar, pencil in mouth. Claire came in and lay right down, sighing.

"Well finally!" Charlie said, removing the pencil from his mouth.

"Three hours!"

"Sorry?"

"Is it normal for a baby to take _three hours_ to fall asleep?"

"Probably not," he said, writing lyrics on the paper in front of him.

She sat up. "I tried everything, but he wouldn't stop crying!"

"Mmm," he replied distractedly, still writing.

"I fed him! I changed him – twice! I even sang to him!"

"You sang?" he said, grinning, lying on his side now.

"Just a lullaby," she said, trying to shrug off the subject.

"You never told me you sang."

"I don't!"

"Sing something!"

"Charlie!"

"What? I want to hear you sing!"

"No!" she shoved him.

"Come on. Sing anything."

"No," she said, sternly.

He pouted and laid on his back. "You know, if you're good enough, I might be able to get you into Driveshaft."

"Charlie!" she said laughing. "Get off the subject, okay?"

"Fine."

About fifteen minutes later, Charlie finally put his guitar and writing aside, and turned out the light. He wrapped his arms around Claire and kissed her neck.

She groaned. "Charlie…"

"What?" he said, kissing her neck again.

"Not tonight…"

"Come on. Why not?"

"I'm too tired."

"Too tired!"

She turned on her side and leaned her head on her hand.

"He was crying all day long! He wouldn't even let me put him down."

"Should've called Sawyer. He shuts him right up."

She snickered. "I'm sure that would've been a great conversation! 'Hi Sawyer, it's Claire. Do you think you can come over and talk to my baby? He won't shut up.'"

"There you go. See, you should've bloody called him!"

She laughed. "Good night."

"Party pooper," he muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never

CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire

RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)

EPISODES: After "Exodus", assuming the raft was successful.

STATUS: Chapter two of -?

BETA READER: Harlequin

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. I do not own LOST. I only own the imagination to create this fic.

Quickie:

My first C/C fic! I'm so excited! It's short, but it will progress! Please give me feedback!

**Chapter 2**

Charlie awoke the next morning to find that Claire was not beside him. He stumbled out of bed, tripping over his guitar case. He silently cursed out the case, and proceeded to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. He walked to the counter and finally opened his eyes to see Claire breastfeeding Aaron.

"Ah. Feeding time. Sorry," he said, walking to the doorway, blushing.

"It's okay," she laughed.

"No, no. This is a special _bond_ that you two share. Don't let me interrupt."

"Charlie, I don't care! _He _won't care!" she laughed again.

"Well,_ I_ do," he said, backing out more.

"We share a bed together!"

"Well...well that's different!"

"Charlie, come sit down. I'll make you something to eat when he's done."

"You know," he said, cocking his head to the side. "I think I'll just wait in the living room. You'll let me know when you're through?"

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

He went into the living room and sat on the couch, turning on the TV. Of course the first thing shown on the screen was Jack talking about their tragic crash and survival on the island. _Show off, _he thought to himself. He flipped the channel and now saw Kate, being taken from a courtroom in cuffs. He watched sympathetically, as he saw tears run down her face. He changed the channel again and saw Hurley, talking about what he was going to do with all his lottery money and if being stranded had changed anything he had wanted to do in the first place. He sat back and tossed the remote aside. Wasn't there anything on that wasn't involved with them!

A few minutes later, Claire walked in with Aaron on her shoulder, patting his back. She saw Hurley on the screen and took a seat next to Charlie, still attempting to burp Aaron.

"Is this really all that's on?" she asked.

"Seems to be."

The show paused and a round of commercials started. Suddenly, Charlie sat up and stared at the screen, wide-eyed.

"Bloody hell!"

"Charlie!" 

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry, Aaron!" he said, giving him an affectionate nudge.

The commercial continued: It was a commercial that was promoting the comeback of Driveshaft.

"Look at that!"

He pointed to the TV, which was blasting "You All Everybody".

"Could you turn it down?" she said loudly, as Aaron started to cry.

"Sorry!" There was a pause as they continued watching the commercial. "Why would it say that we're coming back?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Are you?"

"No! At least, not that I know of."

He bolted up and grabbed the phone and called Liam.

"I take it you saw it then," Liam said, answering the phone.

"Yeah, I saw it! What's that all about?"

"One last tour, baby brother! One last goodbye for Driveshaft, since we never had one the first time around."

"Are you serious?"

Charlie pulled the phone away as Liam laughed on the other end.

"He says we're doing a farewell tour!" he told Claire.

"Oh!" she replied, trying to be more excited for him. "That's…That's great!"

"Charlie, you there?" Liam's voice shouted out from the receiver.

"Sorry. I was just telling Claire the good news."

"She going to come on the tour too, then?"

"I'll have to ask her later. When is this whole thing?"

"It starts this weekend. We'll tour the cities of Australia, and the states!"

"Liam…" he looked to Claire and Aaron. "Liam, I don't think I can do it."

"What? Why not?"

"It's Claire. I don't think she's going to want to come. I mean –"

"Charlie boy! This is what you've been wanting! This is Driveshaft's comeback!"

"I know, but –"

"It's only for two months. She can last without you for that much, right?"

He looked over at Claire who was rocking with Aaron on her shoulder. She looked at Charlie for a minute, smiled weakly, then turned back to the TV, staring sadly.

"Charlie? You there?"

"Liam, what about Karen? And Megan? You can't just leave them!"

"'Course I can! They'll be fine! Karen's already told me it's all right!"

"You sure she wasn't just saying that?"

"Come on, Charlie! One last tour! And I never ask anything of you again!"

Charlie laughed. "You expect me to believe _that_?"

"Think on it!"

And with that, Liam hung up. Charlie hung the phone back up and walked back to the couch, shaking his head.

"My brother has gone completely mad…"

"Oh, you should do it, Charlie."

"What!" he looked at her, surprised.

"It's what you've been talking about since we were on the island," she said, rolling her eyes. "You and I both know that it's what you really want."

"Yeah, but…," he looked at the floor shrugging, then back at Aaron, who was sitting on her lap now. "But I can't leave you two here all alone."

"We'll be okay. It's not like you'll be gone long, right?"

"No! Not at all!" He looked at her again, guiltily. "Only…two months..."

"Just leave us with a whole bunch of peanut butter and we'll be okay," she said, trying to be supportive, although she hated the idea of the tour.

"Extra smooth?" he grinned.

"As always," she kissed his forehead.

"Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

They leaned in to kiss, but were interrupted by a small burp and a giggle. They laughed…


	3. Chapter 3

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never  
CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire  
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)  
EPISODES: After "Exodus", assuming the raft was successful.  
STATUS: Chapter three of -?  
BETA READER: Harlequin  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. (damnit!) I do not own LOST. (damnit!) I only own the imagination to create this fic. (damnit! wait...that's a good thing.)

Quickie:  
It doesn't seem to be very much right now, but as I get more into it, it will be better. Juggling two stories at once with two completely different plots isn't the easiest. I love you if you leave comments/reviews!

**Chapter 3**

It was Wednesday when Charlie had seen the commercial and called Liam for confirmation. Now it was Friday night, and he was doing some last minute packing getting ready to leave in the morning. It was already very late, but Aaron was still not ready to fall asleep. Claire walked into the doorway, exhausted, and still holding the wide awake Aaron.

"Want some help?"

"Uh, sure," Charlie said, fumbling with the locks on his guitar case.

"Okay."

She headed over and sat on the bed, and tried to let Aaron lie down on it. Unfortunately, he cried out in protest. Frustrated, she picked him up again and walked over to the closet. To her surprise, it was half empty.

"Taking the whole apartment with you?" she joked.

"As much as I can fit in my bags," he joked back.

Aaron started wailing and Charlie noticed the distressed look on Claire's face.

"Why don't you put him in the nursery? He likes to play with his toys."

"No, it's okay. I'm all right," she said, unconvincingly.

Charlie walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "Claire," he said, looking straight at her. "Nothing's going to happen to him if you let him play in the other room. There's no one here that's going to take him."

"I know that. I just…I think he wants to stay here, okay?"

"Look at you! You're exhausted!"

"I'm fine, okay?" she said, irritably.

"All right," he gave up and went back to packing. "I think that's everything."

"Okay," she said sadly.

"Are you sure you want me to go?"

"Charlie!" she laughed. "How many times are you going to ask? I already said it's fine."

"I know…I'm just worried about you two. I mean, how are you going to handle him without me?"

"I think I'll manage," she laughed.

He looked back at the bed, with suitcases piled onto it.

"You got the better half of the bargain," he teased. "Getting this whole bed to yourself."

"And I'll enjoy every minute of it."

"Thank you," he said softly, in false anger. "Thank you, kindly."

"And think, Aaron!" she looked to her son. "You'll be the man of the house!"

"That's right!" he said. He looked at Aaron's bright blue eyes that were identical to Claire's. "You'll have take care of your mommy. Make sure she doesn't eat all of your cookies!"

She laughed. "I don't eat them _all_!"

"Yes, you do," he grinned at her. He looked back to Aaron. "You keep your mommy company, all right? Make sure she's okay while I'm gone. She's the best mum you could ever have."

At that, Aaron let out a huge yawn, right in Charlie's face.

"You see that? I'm boring," he said, throwing his hands in the air.

She looked at him sadly, still rocking Aaron in her arms. He looked back, also a trace of sadness in his eyes.

"It's going to be weird without you," she said, softly.

"I know," he looked down. Then he looked back up at her. "Are you sure you want me to go?"

"I'm going to kill you in a minute," she said, and left the room, going into Aaron's nursery.

"How reassuring!" he called out after her.

* * *

The next morning, Claire awoke and Charlie wasn't beside her. Afraid he had left without saying goodbye, she frantically got up and walked around the house looking for him. She finally found him in the kitchen, giving Aaron banana slices.

"Morning, sunshine," he greeted her.

She let out a breath of relief. "I thought you had to leave?"

"I do," he said, cutting another piece of banana for Aaron, who seemed to love it. "But not yet."

"Oh," she sat down, suddenly overwhelmingly tired. "What time is it?"

"Eleven thirty."

"What!"

"Aaron woke up crying around nine thirty, and you looked so peaceful sleeping that I didn't want to disturb you. So I went and got him."

"Thanks, Charlie," she smiled, gratefully.

"You're welcome."

"He really likes it," she laughed.

"Yeah. I didn't really know what else I could give him to pass the time while you slept. Guess I made a good choice."

"What time do you have to leave?" she asked, quietly.

"In an hour or so. Liam's going to come and we're going to head to the plane together."

"Another plane," she shook her head shuddering.

"Don't worry. It's a private jet that the four of us own," he said, referring to the whole band. "Perfectly safe."

"Oh," she nodded. "You think it's a good idea for you to go?"

"This coming from you _now_, after I asked you about a trillion times yesterday?" he laughed.

She smiled. "Well, I'm going to miss you."

"Then come with me," his eyes lit up as he took her hand.

"I can't," she looked at him sadly. She looked at Aaron who was mashing a banana slice in his fingers. "He's too young. If he were older…"

"I know. I just wish you could come."

The quietness was shattered when Aaron starting banging his banana covered fist against his high-chair tray, appearing to demand more. Claire cut up another banana, silently.

"I'll have to buy more of these," she laughed, trying to cheer herself up.

"Yeah," Charlie said, rubbing his head. "You know, I'm gonna go and…wash up."

"Oh, okay," she nodded.

An hour later, there was a loud knocking at the door. Shockingly, Aaron didn't cry. He was busy playing in his nursery. Claire was the one to let Liam in, for Charlie hadn't come out of the bathroom in their room yet.

"Hello love," Liam greeted Claire. "So where is the little bugger?"

"Excuse me?" she said, unsure if he meant Aaron or Charlie.

"Charlie? Where is he?"

"Oh! He's in the bathroom. Washing up," she shrugged.

"Oh bloody hell," he shook his head and went right into their room.

Claire followed and sat on the bed next to all of Charlie's packed belongings.

"Come on Charlie! Get outta there!"

"Just a minute!"

"Oh don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing?"

Charlie immediately opened the door. "No!"

"Good. Because if you started that up again, don't think I wouldn't hesitate to get you counseling."

"Um," Charlie let out a nervous laugh, glancing at Claire. "Liam, can we just get out of here now?"

"What's he talking about, Charlie?"

"Nothing. Nothing. It was just something from the old days."

"You haven't told her? Oh, bloody hell, Charlie!"

"Told me what?" she stood up now.

"No I did tell her, just, not directly."

"Told me _what_!" she demanded again.

"That I was a drug addict!" he almost shouted.

"Oh."

"I used to be a heroin addict. But Locke and Jack helped me get over it," he said, staring directly at her.

"Who the bloody hell are they!" Liam interrupted.

"Could you please stop with the language, Liam? Aaron's right in the other room!"

"Look, whatever. Can we just hit the road already?"

"All right, all right," he started lifting his bags.

"Do you want any help?" Claire asked quietly.

"It's all right. I've got it. And Liam can be my mule, right?" he joked.

"Very funny," he replied smugly.

"All right," Claire laughed and she went to retrieve Aaron, who started to cry.

In a huge mess, they were all gathered near the door – Liam already halfway out of it. Charlie stood with one bag on his shoulder and his guitar, in its case, in the other hand.

"Well…I'm off," he finally said.

"Be safe, okay?"

"I promise," he kissed her. "And you two be safe too."

"We will."

"Take care of each other."

"You'll call?"

"Everyday. As often as I can."

"Oh come on lover boy," Liam called.

"Keep your knickers on!" Charlie called back.

"Good luck," she whispered into his ear, before kissing him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered back.

They shared a long, passionate good-bye kiss. When they finally broke apart, Liam was already down the hall at the elevator. Charlie grabbed Aaron's hand and kissed it. He started walking, but Aaron was reluctant to let go of him. Finally, he let go, and Claire and Aaron watched him walk down the hall, until he and Liam disappeared into the elevator…


	4. Chapter 4

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never  
CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire  
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)  
EPISODES: After "Exodus", assuming the raft was successful.  
STATUS: Chapter four of -?  
BETA READER: Harlequin  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. (dangit!) I do not own LOST. (Dangit!) I only own the imagination to create this fic. (DANGIT! Wait…that's a _good_ thing…)

Quickie:  
It's another short one…Hope that's not a problem. More reviews would be nice! D

**Chapter 4**

After Charlie had gone, Claire went into the living room and slumped onto the couch, sitting Aaron up on her lap.

"Well, now what should we do?"

Aaron's only response was sucking on his tiny little fingers, cooing. Claire smiled and turned on the TV, for lack of something better to do. Instantly, she regretted turning it on. The Driveshaft commercial was showing again, and there was the band playing, zooming in on each face. When it zoomed in on Charlie's face, she sighed. Angrily, she turned the TV off.

* * *

Later that night, Claire and Aaron were sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner. Or in this case, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She got up to get the jar of peanut butter when Aaron started babbling incoherently.

"What? I'm allowed to have more peanut butter if I want to!"

"Mmmmm," he bit in his lower lip, and started banging his fist.

"Ouch, Aaron! Doesn't that hurt?" she joked.

When he started banging louder, she put the jar of peanut butter down. She crouched next to his high chair and took his hand, keeping him from banging. She kissed it and looked at him with a smile. He smiled back, with a hint of mischief in his grin.

"Please?" she said in a baby voice.

"Mamamam," he smiled.

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Mamamama!"

She laughed. "Oh my god!"

"Mama!" Aaron echoed through the house he was screaming so loud and giggling.

She was laughing excitedly now, as she lifted him from his chair and hugged him. She started dancing through the house in joy with him in her arms.

"Aaron!" she looked at him. "You're such a big boy! Can you say it again?"

"Mama," he said simply.

She laughed again. "Charlie! Charlie, Aaron said –"

But she stopped herself. It was now that she realized just how much she had missed Charlie. She was calling for him, and he wasn't even there. She hugged Aaron to her again, and looked around then too the floor. He wasn't even gone a whole day and she was missing him horribly already. She tried to cheer up and decided to give Charlie a call to tell him the good news.

"Yes, mum. I've got clean underwear," he answered his phone.

"Well that's great, but it wasn't why I was calling," Claire replied, cheerfully.

"Oh! Claire! Hi!"

"'Elloooooo Claire!" came numerous voices from the jet.

Claire laughed and called out to them, "Hello boys!"

"Shut up," Charlie laughed at his friends. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you–"

"Ooh Charlie! I looove youu!" they all said again, in mockery. "Oooh!"

"Guys, stop!" Charlie shouted to them, but laughing.

Claire smiled on the other end, although growing a bit annoyed. They all sounded like they were drinking and having a grand old time making fun of Charlie and Claire. She was waiting a few minutes as they were all talking loudly, and at one point, she thought she heard a few female voices in there. Ignoring the fact, she tried to get Charlie's attention again.

"Charlie?"

He didn't answer her, but she heard him talking to someone over the shouting of the others.

"Charlie!" she shouted.

"Yes! Yes! Sorry! They won't shut up!"

"Well…isn't there another part of the plane that you can go to?"

"No. I wish there was."

"Charlieeee…" said a female voice. Claire flinched at the sound of this other girl whining his name.

"Charlie, are there other girls there?"

"Well yeah. Just groupies, from the old days."

"Groupies?" she said, accusingly.

"Don't worry. Most of them are Liam's and Patrick's."

"You know what, actually I think I've got to go. You know, Aaron needs me."

"Claire…"

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Claire, wait."

"Have a safe flight, okay?"

"I thought you had something to tell me?"

"Yeah well…" she paused. "I forgot."

"Claire, wait. Don't hang –"

It was too late. She had already hung up the phone. Groupies! How could he do that to her? Well, maybe he wouldn't. He _did_ say they were Liam and Patrick's. But that didn't mean that he couldn't do anything with them. No. She forced the thought away. No he wouldn't do that. Would he? Could she really trust him? Wait. Of course she could trust him. He was Charlie. He was _her_ Charlie. And he wouldn't do anything stupid……….Would he?


	5. Chapter 5

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never  
CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire  
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)  
EPISODES: After "Exodus", assuming the raft was successful.  
STATUS: Chapter five of -?  
BETA READER: Harlequin  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. (dangit!) I do not own LOST. (Dangit!) I only own the imagination to create this fic. (DANGIT! Wait…that's a _good_ thing…)

Quickie:  
Sorry this one took so long. Got so caught up in the other stories I was writing…But here's a longer one for a change.

**Chapter 5**

After that disturbing phone call, Claire put Aaron in his nursery to play, and went back to the kitchen to clean up. She couldn't get the ideas out of her head of what could possibly happen during this tour. She knew she shouldn't be thinking like that, but insecurity _was_ her weakness. Maybe she shouldn't have hung up on him like she did. But there was just so much that could go wrong in his absence…

Now she found herself going back into the living room grabbing the phone. Just as she turned it on, hearing the dial tone, she stopped herself.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself aloud.

She turned the phone off and tossed it aside, slumping onto the couch. Why was she consumed in being so sure that he would do something to screw up? He wouldn't. He loved her and she knew it. Why was she beating herself up over this? It was silly. And she _shouldn't _have hung up on him. She never did get to tell him about Aaron's first word…

She picked up the phone again and dialed his number. This time, it was quieter when he picked up.

"Hello?" he said grimly.

"Charlie?"

"Claire! I thought you were mad at me."

"No, I'm just a little tired. Cranky."

"You should go to bed. Get some sleep. Is Aaron still awake?"

"He's in his nursery. But that's why I called. I wanted to tell you."

"Yes?"

She sat up straighter in Indian style now, smiling. "Aaron said his first word today!"

"He did? That's wonderful! What was it? I bet it was Charlie."

She laughed. "Don't get big-headed."

"Sorry," he said, but smiling.

"He said _mama_," she said proudly.

"Aw. Shame I missed it."

"Yeah," she said, her smile starting to fade. "I miss you."

He laughed. "I haven't even been gone a full day yet!"

"I know. But I'm still allowed to miss you, right?"

"Yeah. I miss you too. But believe me, two months will go by fast."

"Sure," she said, trying to make herself believe him.

"Hey. We're going to be landing soon. Can I call you when we get to the room?"

"Okay."

"Tell Aaron I said hi and I miss him."

"Okay."

"And I miss you. I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Okay." After a short pause, she said, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Say hi to the guys."

"All right."

"Bye."

"Good night."

She listened until she heard his phone turn off, then she hung up. She sat for a few minutes, already missing the sound of his voice. Her silence was quickly interrupted by Aaron's wailing. She hurried to the nursery, and proceeded to putting him to bed.

Charlie never did call back that night. In fact, he hadn't called after a week either. Claire was dying to call him, longing to hear his voice so she could get through another restless week. But she kept telling herself to wait for him to call. She didn't want to sound desperate. And she couldn't bear to bother him when he was doing show after show. Even if he was between shows, he was probably exhausted. And she didn't want to wake him if he was asleep.

She busied herself with Aaron all day, taking him to the park, playing with him in his nursery, going to the mall buying him clothes. At night, when he was asleep, she would sit on the couch with ice cream and a jar of peanut butter, watching romance movies that always seemed to be on late at night. She always had the phone next to her, ready to answer his call. One night, she caught one of their concerts on TV. She sat through the whole thing, watching them. Watching him.

After two weeks without a call, she grew strangely angry. She considered taking all of his belongings and throwing them out the door. Or auctioning them away. But then she suddenly heard the phone ring. She left Aaron's nursery and ran to answer the phone. But after four rings, it stopped. There was a voicemail and she quickly dialed to listen:

_Hi Charlie. Hi Claire. It's Shannon. You know, from that craphole island. Anyway, I was just calling to invite you both to Boone's funeral. It's in two weeks. You'll be getting something in the mail that'll give you more details and whatever. But it would mean a lot to me if you came. _there was a pause and Claire heard sniffling _Oh and you can bring the baby too. I hope he's doing okay…All right. Bye. _

Claire hung up the phone, downhearted. It wasn't Charlie. She snapped out of it and remembered Shannon's message. Boone's funeral. In two weeks. And they were _both_ invited. But Charlie wouldn't be back for another month by then. She would have to go alone. With Aaron. If she went at all, that is. But this gave her a good enough reason to call Charlie. So she picked up the phone and dialed his number.

"'Ello?" said a voice.

Claire's eyebrows creased. "Hello?"

"Ooh! Claire! You're lookin' for Charlie right?"

"Liam?"

"Yeah. Charlie's in the other room. Hang on."

Without a choice, she held on waiting for Charlie. She listened and heard Liam in the background banging on the door.

"Charlie! Get the bloody hell out here! It's your lady on the phone!"

Claire laughed, despite herself. But then she thought, why was he in the other room? Or what was he doing in there? She heard footsteps.

"Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Charlie's feeling a l'tle sleepy right now. Can he call you back?" It was Liam again.

"Well…I wanted to tell – "

"Is she still on the phone?" another voice said in the background.

Claire paused in mid-sentence. "Is that Charlie?"

"Uh – "

"Tell her I'm sleeping, all right?"

"No. Liam can I talk to him please? NOW?"

"He's sleeping."

"Yeah it's nice you're trying to help him but I need to talk to him right now, please. Okay?"

"Charlie, she says she _needs_ to talk to you."

She heard the phone being shuffled around. Then she heard murmuring and finally someone sighed into the phone.

"Hello?" It was Charlie.

"Charlie. Hi."

"Hi. Look, Claire. I'm sorry but can I talk to you later?"

"Why?" she demanded.

"I'm not feelin' great right now."

"Where're the sodding drugs?" Liam shouted.

Claire paused for a long time.

"Claire? You there? Hello?"

"Yeah. I'm here," she said, finally.

"All right. It's okay if I call you back?"

"You know, you said that last time. And it's been two weeks and you never called back, Charlie."

"I know. I was busy. I – "

"I waited for you to call. And you never did."

Aaron suddenly started wailing in his nursery. Claire looked around for the cordless, but couldn't find it.

"Claire, maybe you should go take care of him."

"No. I'm not done. And he's _fine_," she said, still looking for the phone.

"Claire – "

"Stop trying to change the subject!" she said. "Do you know how worried I got when you never called back!"

"Worried?" he laughed. "Of what?"

"About _you_! Or what you could be doing!" she said, switching to the cordless.

"What I could be doing? What do you think – "

"Drugs, Charlie!" she said, entering the nursery. Aaron's wailing was relatively louder now. She picked him up and walked with him in her arms. He still wouldn't stop crying.

"No. No, I'm not – "

"_Other women_, Charlie!"

"Claire. Listen to me. I'm not doing drugs. I'm not with any other women. I swear."

"I _want_ to believe you, Charlie. But I just…I don't feel like I can," she said, as Aaron finally started to calm down.

"Claire…"

"We're invited to Boone's funeral."

He was quiet now.

"I guess I'll just tell them you're working. Aaron and I can go alone."

"Why? When is it?"

"In two weeks."

"Oh."

"I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Claire, wait!" he said, quickly, as she was about to hang up.

"Yeah?"

He stopped. "I love you," he said quietly.

She closed her eyes. His words broke her heart. "I love you too," she said quietly, and hung up.


	6. Chapter 6

TITLE: Starting at Forever and Ending at Never  
CHARACTERS: Charlie and Claire  
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)  
EPISODES: After "Exodus", assuming the raft was successful.  
STATUS: Chapter six of -?  
BETA READER: Harlequin  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charlie and Claire. (dangit!) I do not own LOST. (Dangit!) I only own the imagination to create this fic. (DANGIT! Wait…that's a _good_ thing…)

Quickie:  
Trying to work faster so that you're not waiting for months for the next update!

**Chapter 6**

It was amazing how two weeks passed by so quickly. Two weeks since Aaron's first word – now he knew three others. Two weeks since Shannon had called. Two weeks since she'd heard Charlie's voice…

She'd stopped watching the Driveshaft commercials, and anytime the concerts were on TV, she flipped to another channel. It was too much for her to bear after their last conversation. Not to mention that his not calling for two weeks had her almost pulling her hair out.

Now, Claire was getting Aaron into his outfit for the funeral. It was a dark grey t-shirt, with a red and black striped tie, a black suit jacket over it, and black pants – an outfit Charlie would've appreciated, which was probably why she'd gotten it in the first place. The phone rang while she was tying his tie. She got up and carried her with him, when she answered it.

"Hello?"

"'Ello love."

It was Charlie. _Finally_!

"Hi Charlie," she said, not realizing a huge smile had spread across her face. "Oh. Someone else wants to say hi," she said, as Aaron tugged at her hair. She put the phone next to his ear.

"Hi!" he said loudly, then giggled. She put the phone back to her own ear.

"You've got yourself a real chatterbox now, don't you?" Charlie commented.

"His favorite word is now 'no'."

He laughed. "So every time you say bath time?"

"No," she replied, sitting Aaron on the floor below her.

"And bedtime?"

"That's a big 'no'," she laughed. "So, how are you?"

"I'm great. More importantly, how are you?"

"Just about to leave for the funeral, actually."

"Oh. Yeah, that. I wanted to be there…"

"It's okay. How's the tour?"

"Good. Crowds are _insanely_ loud."

She laughed. "That's good though, right?"

"Yeah. I, um, I got you and Aaron something."

"Oh you didn't have to do that."

"They're tickets."

"Tickets?" she repeated, her eyebrows furrowing.

"To one of the concerts. And I got plane tickets for the two of you. We're in New York City and I – "

"Charlie…"

"What?"

"I can't take Aaron to one of your concerts."

"Why not? He'll love it! And you guys can come backstage – "

"He's too little. The noise will be too much for him."

"I think if he can deal with the noise from that monster – "

"Charlie," she protested.

She heard him sigh. "It's just…I miss you guys. And Aaron…he'd love it. It's not like this'll ever happen again."

"I'm sorry, Charlie."

"What am I gonna do with these tickets?"

"I'm sure you can find _somebody_ who wants to go."

"I really wish you would."

"I have to go. The funeral's going to start soon."

"All right. Can I talk to Aaron for a minute?"

"Yeah, if I can catch him before he crawls away," she laughed. "Here he is."

"Aaron?" Charlie said.

"Hi!" he said, cheerfully.

"Hi Aaron. I miss you."

"Hi!"

Charlie laughed. "Do you miss me?"

"No."

"No? I miss _you_. You know that?"

"No."

"Do you know who this is?"

"No."

"It's Charlie. Can you say Charlie?"

"No."

"Hey Aaron, you think you can get mommy to say yes to come to see me?"

Aaron sucked on his bottom lip for a minute, saying nothing.

"Aaron?"

"Yeah."

Charlie laughed again. "All right, buddy. I'm gonna hold you to it. Can I talk to mommy again now?"

"No."

But Aaron gave the phone up to his mother. "Productive conversation?" she said.

"Productive enough," he replied.

"All right. Well we have to go."

"Give Shannon my condolences, will you?"

"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you too," she said.

"Bye."

She hung up the phone and sighed. Why was it becoming more and more difficult to say those three simple words? Maybe if he hadn't been gone so long…Remembering the funeral, Claire scooped Aaron into her arms and turned everything off, leaving the apartment.

The funeral was like a big reunion. Aside from Shannon and Boone's family, all of the other survivors from their flight were there. That was, everyone but Kate. She didn't know why, but it made her feel sad not to see Kate there. She had become good friends with her on the island and she _was_ the one who delivered Aaron. Secretly, Claire thought of her as Aaron's godmother. It was a shame she couldn't tell her so.

Jack came up to them and greeted Claire and gave Aaron and affectionate pat on the head, to which Aaron replied his cheerful "Hi!".

"How are you two holding up?"

"Oh we're great," Claire assured him.

"Where's Charlie?"

"He's um, he's on tour."

"Oh. Well that's great."

"Yeah," she said, although her expression didn't agree.

"When's he coming back?"

"He'll be back at the end of the month."

"Well that's not so bad."

"Yeah. So have you talked to Kate since…"

"Twice," he nodded.

"Guess that makes me the winner then, huh Doc?" Sawyer appeared behind Claire.

Jack looked at him curiously.

"She's called _me_ at least once a week," he grinned.

"Yeah? Well at least she's okay then?" Jack replied, unsure as to whether Sawyer was lying or not.

"'Spose so."

"All right. Well it's nice seeing you two. I'm going to find Shannon," Claire said, taking her leave.

Sawyer nodded as they walked past, and Jack waved good bye. It wasn't too hard to find Shannon. She was at the front by the coffin, as close to Boone as she could be. Claire had to wonder how that worked, since they'd buried Boone on the island, but she decided to let that go. It wasn't important. She walked slowly to Shannon, who was sitting, looking either miserable or really bored.

"Shannon, hi."

"Hi Claire. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are _you_?"

"Ugh. So bored. Sayid hasn't gotten here yet. He was supposed to come with me, but he didn't have a tie. So now he's out buying one at the last minute. I swear…"

Claire laughed. "So you're holding up well then?"

"Yeah. I'm trying," she said, stealing a glance backward at the coffin. "That's Aaron!" she said surprised.

"Oh. Yeah. Say hi, Aaron."

"Hi!"

"He got so big! Hi Aaron," she said, taking his hand. She looked up at Claire. "I hate to ask this so last minute, but do you think you could give a speech for Boone? I mean, a few people already are, but…I don't know. Part of me just thinks you can come up with something really beautiful."

"Oh. Sure. Of course." she said, not really sure _why_ she had accepted. "Oh. Charlie says hi and he sends his condolences."

"Oh. Where is he?"

"He's on tour, actually."

"You mean his band actually started up again?"

"Yeah."

"How could anyone want to go see them in concert? I thought they sucked!"

Claire laughed. "Well…it makes him happy."

"You miss him?"

"Not really…" Claire lied. She bit her lip, then nodded. "Actually, yeah. Yeah I do."

"Yeah…" Shannon looked at the closed coffin and sighed. "Um, this thingy is about to start. You can do your speech after Jack's. Is that okay?"

"Oh. Sure!" she smiled. "That's fine."


	7. Chapter 7

Quickie:  
I know you're all probably hoping to get something good from this and that Claire's speech is superawesome. But I took this in my own way. I thought more like her. I thought of what she would do and say. So yeah. Anyway, sorry for the long wait. Horrible mishap with computer. All files of writing deleted somehow. Couldn't get them back. Spent a week recovering everything. Finally done. And now back on schedule. Yeah. Long story - short version. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope ya like! And thanks to all reviewers!

**Chapter 7**

Jack stood at the podium and started his speech by clearing his throat.

"We all knew Boone to be a dedicated man. He was committed to helping everyone and trying to find a way off the island. Of course we all thought he was a bit foolish, but who isn't? Even still, his foolishness was justified. He had every intention to help, not harm. He attempted to save a woman who wasn't breathing when we first crashed. The day after, he tried to save a drowning woman. When Claire had been dehydrated, he was there to give her water. Which he actually stole…" he laughed. "But that's not important. To the very end, Boone was there to help. I think, most of all, Boone was dedicated to his sister. Her name was the last on his lips, as I let him go. And I know he'll always be in her – and all of our – heart."

Shannon was crying now, and when Jack passed her by in the aisle, she embraced him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Claire's stomach started to knot. Now it was her turn. She was crying too, but not because of Jack's speech. She could barely focus on it. All she kept thinking was _Charlie_. As she started to walk up to the front, wiping her eyes, she was filled with thoughts of him. She missed him. Why wasn't he here? Why did he have to go on that stupid tour! Why did she feel so distanced from him now? Well, that was a stupid question…But why did she feel like he wasn't telling her something? Her thoughts evaporated when she stumbled over the step and her gasp echoed through the church. She made her way to the podium and took a deep breath. She looked around and everyone, trying to think of what to say.

"Hi," she started, uncertainly. "I'm…Claire. But most of you knew that…" she drifted. "So, I didn't really know Boone too well. But, um…he seemed very nice, and caring, and always wanting to do for others rather than himself. Like Jack said, when I needed water, he was there to give it. He was a lifeguard, and he was always there to try to rescue someone. And he was _always_ there for Shannon. I mean I didn't really socialize with him that much, but just by watching them, I could tell he really loved his sister." She looked over at Shannon, who was smiling with tears streaming down her face. "Boone always seemed ambitious and wanting to fight for the right cause. I mean he went into Sawyer's stuff to help his own sister – "

"Got himself whooped for it too!" Sawyer shouted.

Claire laughed and numerous "shh"'s came from the crowd.

"Oh keep your shhs to yourself," Sawyer grumbled.

Claire laughed lightly and continued. "But Sawyer's right. Boone put himself in danger just for his sister. And if that's not loyalty, I don't know what is. Boone always wanted to do the right thing." She paused, thinking.

She looked at Shannon, her eyebrows furrowed.

"He was Sagittarius, right? Ambitious…optimistic…honest…jovial…" she looked at everyone staring. "Sorry."

She took a long pause. But that was a mistake. Instantly, she started to think of Charlie.

"Boone was…"

Her eyes started to fill with tears. She missed him so much. She tried hard to focus again. She swallowed and started again.

"Boone was…"

Aaron's voice suddenly filled the church.

"Chee-wey!" he said in his little high-pitched voice.

Claire looked over at Sun, who was holding Aaron, struggling to keep him quiet.

"Chawey!" he giggled and started clapping his hands. "Chawey! Chawey!"

Claire looked down, closing her eyes, letting the tears fall. She kept trying to ignore her son's cheerful cries for Charlie, but it was no use. She looked back up at everyone, and hoped to pass off her tears as grief.

"Boone was a hero," she finished quickly.

She hurried off the stage and back to Aaron. She took him in her arms from Sun and started to go toward the doors.

"I'm sorry, Shannon," she said. "I have to go."

"Chawey!" Aaron echoed as they left.

As they walked back into the apartment, Aaron's continuous "Chawey" cries still hadn't stopped.

"Chawey! Chawey! Chawey!" he started shouting when she put him down.

"I know, Aaron. Mommy wants Charlie too. But we'll both just have to wait, okay? How about some lunch?"

"No!"

"Lunch," she said, firmly.

He quieted and crawled into his nursery while Claire started to make lunch. She took the peanut butter jar and held it, looking at it for a few minutes.

"CHAWEY!" Aaron screeched then giggled, breaking the silence.

"Aaron, please!" she called to him, putting the jar down, rubbing her head.

"So when did he start saying my name and when were you planning to tell me?" said a voice.

She turned around and there in the doorway was Charlie, Aaron in his arms.

"Charlie!" she said, breathlessly.

"Surprised?" he grinned.

"Yes! What are you doing here? I mean what happened with the tour?"

"I quit it. I couldn't bear to be away from you anymore."

"Oh Charlie…"

She ran into his arms and –

– fell off the couch. She sat up immediately and looked around. It was dark. When did she fall asleep on the couch? Then her stomach fluttered. Where was Aaron?

She got up immediately and started speed walking to his nursery. She had to wonder what had really happened. Did she go to the funeral yet? Had Charlie even gone on his tour? She turned the light on in Aaron's room and went to his crib. She wanted to cry. He wasn't there. She searched all other rooms except her own, but he wasn't in any of them. Finally, she headed to her bedroom. She opened the door, and sleeping, lay Charlie! She gasped and covered her mouth. She slowly walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. He stirred and she laughed, tears falling. She climbed on the bed next to him.

"Charlie?" she whispered, shaking him slightly.

He stirred and turned on his opposite side. She sat for a few minutes, filled with happiness to see him there. But then her heart jumped and her stomach flopped. She shook him again, a little more aggressively. He turned to face her and started waking up.

"What? What is it?" he moaned.

"Charlie…wake up, please."

"What?" he sat up and squinted in the darkness. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"It's Aaron," she said, her voice cracking.

"What's wrong with him?" he said, growing worried.

"He's gone!" she started sobbing.


	8. Chapter 8

Quickie:

No, CindyCurl, that wasn't my fic. But I know that one too.It's a good one.  
((I know. They seem to be getting short again. I'm trying, I really am. But they always end up pretty short, and I fit in as much as I can! ))

**Chapter 8**

"All right, calm down."

"Calm down? How can I calm down when my baby is gone?" she sobbed.

"Claire, he's fine."

"How can you say that? You don't know where he is!" she snapped.

"Well, actually…"

He lifted up the covers and moved a bit, and there was Aaron lying soundly asleep next to him. Claire's jaw dropped and she let out the huge breath she'd been holding.

"Oh thank god!"

"I tried to get him to sleep in his crib but he wouldn't have it. Oh and when did he start saying my name?" he grinned.

"Oh. It was at the funeral," she said, rubbing her head. "I was going to tell you…"

"It's okay."

"So, when did you get home? And why? What happened to the tour?"

"One question at a time," he laughed. "I got home a few hours ago, around eight thirty."

"What happened to your tour? I mean is everything okay? You weren't supposed to be back for another two weeks and – "

"Relax. Everything's fine. Patrick hurt his leg. We were in the emergency room until two in the morning last night and when the doctors told us he broke his leg, we all agreed to end the tour. We'd never find a replacement in time."

"Oh. So…it's over then?"

"Yeah."

She laughed. "I'm so glad you're back," she hugged him.

"Me too. Couldn't stop thinking about you," he kissed her hair. He added, "And Aaron, of course."

"I can't believe I was so stupid, thinking you were doing something horrible."

He put his hands on either side of her face, and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I would never do anything to hurt you."

She looked down, smiling. "I missed you," she said, timidly.

"I missed you too."

He kissed her lovingly. When they finally broke apart, she felt a short wave of dizziness. It hadn't hit her until now just how much she had missed that.

"You know, with everything you accused _me_ of, you were the one cheating all along," he said, with a serious face.

"W-what?" she said, horrified.

"Small guy, maybe two foot. Barely any hair."

She laughed. "Yeah. We went to all the best places, enjoyed several dinners together. Except, _you_ were the one who brought him to bed!"

This made him laugh. "Sounds like you've been spoiled while I was gone."

"Oh yes," she said sarcastically. "Sleeping in a big bed all by myself, getting fat off of peanut butter. No good conversation for weeks!"

"Just how much peanut butter did you have?"

"You don't want to know."

"And I'd imagine you'd have great conversations with _yourself_."

"Funny."

She rubbed her face and moaned tiredly. "What time is it?"

"Nearly four."

"I should put him in his own bed. Before he gets too used to this."

"All right."

She got up and took Aaron into his arms. Charlie gave him an affectionate rub on the head and she left the room. He laid back on the bed, sighing. It was good to be back in his own bed. And it was _great_ to be home with Claire again. And Aaron…

* * *

Charlie woke up the next morning to an empty bed, and the sweet aroma of pancakes. Sure enough when he went into the kitchen, there was Claire, flipping them. He saw Aaron sitting with an unpeeled banana, playing with it. 

"Lemme help you with that, little guy," Charlie said, taking the banana and peeling it for Aaron.

After giving the banana back to him, he went over to Claire, and pulled her backward in his arms, kissing her.

"And good morning to you," he said, still holding her.

"Morning," she laughed.

He let her back up and she almost stumbled.

"I'm making chocolate chip and blueberry. Which do you want?"

"Mmm. Breakfast can't wait?" he whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

She smiled and closed her eyes, fighting the temptation. How could she say no? But then she smelled something burning. Her eyes snapped open and she saw what used to be a pancake, now a mound of black. She frowned and turned around, looking at Charlie.

"Look what you made me do!" she said, joking.

"It's all right. I'll eat that one."

"No, you won't," she sighed. "It's not even _edible_. Why don't you go sit with Aaron?"

"Playing the role of my mother now?"

"With Aaron," she repeated – laughing, this time – and started scraping the pancake from the pan.

He did as he was told and laughed when he saw Aaron's face covered in banana.

"You look great, buddy."

"Chawey!" he said, with a big smile.

"Aaron!" he said too, with a big – but silly – smile.

Aaron laughed. Charlie played with Aaron for a few more minutes until Claire was finished. She served pancakes for the three of them and sat at the table with Charlie.

"Think he'll be walking yet?" Charlie asked, taking a bite of his breakfast. "Mmm," he added.

"Pretty soon. Then we'll never be able to keep up with him!"

"What's this _we_ business?"

"If you want to chase after a toddler, be my guest."

"Mmm," he said, continuing to eat. "Oh. I got you two some souvenirs from the show."

"Oh. You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah I did. Besides, Aaron will love his gifts."

She laughed, shaking her head. _Her Charlie_. Thank god he was home.

"But there's a catch," he said.

"What's that?"

"You have to wait until after breakfast to get them."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

When breakfast was cleared off the table, Claire took Aaron to his nursery to change him, and Charlie went into the bedroom to find the souvenirs he'd brought home. They all met in the living room.

"So where are these gifts you were ranting and raving about?"

"I've got them."

Claire sat with Aaron on the couch. Charlie went back into the bedroom and came out with a large box. Claire studied it for a minute in confusion.

"What is it?"

"It's for Aaron."

"Oh," she said, feeling slightly embarrassed for hoping it was hers.

Claire let Aaron down on the floor and he crawled over to where Charlie was sitting with the box.

"You want to help me open it up, Aaron?"

"Yes!"

"All right."

After about two minutes of them both fumbling with the box, it opened and inside was a miniature guitar case. Claire laughed.

"Ta da!" Charlie held it up for her to see.

"Wow. Look at that, Aaron! You've got a guitar just like your daddy!"

Instantly, she regretted her last sentence. Her smiled vanished and her eyes were wide. Charlie looked up at her, with the same expression.

"I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean – "

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

As he started to open the case for Aaron to see his new toy, Claire slouched into the couch, feeling awful. She wished she hadn't said that. She never brought up Aaron's father at all. And the fact that she just called Charlie his "daddy" made it evident that the topic would be brought up sooner rather than later. Not to mention how much she knew Charlie wished he _was_ Aaron's father. _Way to ruin a good moment_, she thought to herself.

"I got him a little outfit from the tour too," Charlie said, softly.

"Oh. Well, thank you. Very much," she said, feeling herself blush as she looked at him. "Look, I'm sorry about – "

"You want to go for a walk?" he said, suddenly. "Maybe down to the park or something?"

She filled with dread. He wanted to talk, _now_. "Sure," she said, feeling she had no other option.

Scooping Aaron up into her arms, she went to get him dressed. Charlie watched her go and looked at the guitar. He swallowed and took a deep breath before getting up to go get dressed himself.

* * *

A walk to the park turned out to be a good idea. Claire felt better already with the fresh air and the wind blowing in her face. Charlie walked silently beside her as she pushed Aaron in his stroller.

"Beautiful day," she said, breaking the silence and trying to start up a conversation.

"Yeah. Great day to be outside."

"Yeah."

And then there they were walking in silence. Again. Ugh. Claire hated when there were such big gaps between them. It was like the time she found out he was an addict on the island. She yelled at him for lying to her. They didn't talk for days. Well, that may have been _her _fault. She hadn't really given him a chance to explain anything. And when he finally did, things were clearer and she felt a lot better.

But this wasn't all her fault right now. Well, the "daddy" thing was. But he was being just as quiet as she was! And he could start the conversation at any point too! If he really wanted to talk about it, why was he delaying it?

Realizing they reached the play area, Claire stopped, and sat on one of the benches. She un-latched Aaron's seat belt and let him out to play with the other toddlers. Although, she kept a very keen eye on him at all times. Charlie sat with her, and the silence continued. Getting frustrated, Claire decided to just start it and get it over with.

"You know, if there's anything you want to know about Aaron's father…you can ask," she told him, quietly.

"Why would I want to know anything about him?"

"I don't know."

"Don't worry about earlier. Easy accident," he assured her.

She looked down, still frowning. "I know. But I know how much you wish you _were_ his father. And I feel like I upset you."

"No. Not at all!"

"You're sure?"

"Positive," he said, putting his arm around her.

"Okay," she smiled.

"He loves the slide, huh?" Charlie laughed.

"It's the only thing he's good at," Claire smiled, watching her son.

"You know," Charlie started hesitantly, pulling his arm away from her shoulders. "Just because I'm not Aaron's biological father, doesn't mean I still can't make him my son."

Confused, she turned her head, looking at him. He glanced at her sideways, encouraged.

"I mean, I could adopt him. That is, of course, if you'd want me to."

Claire looked back at Aaron, astonished. Of course! Why didn't she realize that before? Then Aaron would legally be _his_ son. But…what if Thomas intervened somehow and prevented it? No. He wouldn't. He hadn't bothered to care about Claire – or the baby – before, so he wouldn't now. Charlie could adopt Aaron and they'd be a happy family. _Wait a minute_, she thought.

"Charlie…" she said, looking over at Aaron again. "If you wanted to adopt Aaron, we'd have to be…"

Looking back to her side, she was surprised to see he wasn't there. Instead, he was in front of her, down on one knee. Her heart skipped a beat, her stomach filled with butterflies. He was grinning from ear to ear and she felt tears of joy prickling her eyelids. She let out a small unintentional gasp when he opened the small black velvet box he held. Inside was the most beautiful golden ring she'd ever seen. The diamond, exquisite– not too big, and yet, not miniscule.

"Your gift," he said softly.

When he saw the tears start to stream down her face, his smile widened. He took her hand in his.

"Claire…"

She felt more tears filling her eyes and her heart filled with joy.

"Will you – take me as your husband?" he said.

He slowly started sliding the ring onto her left ring-finger. She looked down at it, speechless.

"Make me the happiest man alive," he laughed. He looked up at her again. "Marry me?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Claire was sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by all her close friends, her family and Charlie's – well, the females of the families. They were all chattering about where she should buy her dress, how she should do her hair, which flowers she should carry. But she didn't hear any of it. She was completely tuning them out and replaying the day Charlie proposed to her in her head.

_"Make me the happiest man alive," he laughed. "Marry me?" _

The butterflies in her stomach from that moment _still_ hadn't disappeared. When he asked her, she was blown away. Entirely unprepared. She had sat there for a few minutes letting it all sink in.

_"Claire?" _

Charlie's soft voice had finally snapped her out of it. His face came back to vision, but her teary eyes still had blurred everything. She blinked a few times and everything came back. She laughed, tears still streaming down her face. He was still holding her hand and she looked down at the ring again. Finally, she realized he was still waiting for an answer. Of course, in all her nervousness, she knew it all along.

_"Of course I will_," she managed to get out.

Charlie's smile widened and he pulled her to her feet with him. He hugged her and lifted her up, spinning her around joyously. Together they laughed and shared a love filled kiss. Reluctantly, she focused back on everyone around her. They seemed to have forgotten this was _her_ wedding. Charlie had taken Aaron out for the day to let the "girls have their day of chitchat". _Lucky him_, she thought.

"So Claire," her mom said, in a very Australian accent. "Are you planning to wear your hair up or down?"

Claire sighed. "You know, I really haven't thought about it. I mean, it really doesn't matter, does it?"

"Are you mad?" her sister said, her eyes almost bulging out of her head. It almost made Claire laugh. "It's all about the hair and the dress!"

"Oh really?" Claire laughed. "And here I thought it was about two people being in love."

"Oh you know what I mean!"

"I can't believe you're getting married," her friend said. "Told you that psychic was a fake. He didn't predict this!"

"Yeah," she said, her smile faltering a little. "But he was right about everything else."

"Well I still say he's a fake."

"So what kind of dress do you think I should wear?" she said, wanting to change the subject.

Not much later, Charlie walked in the door, with a sleeping Aaron in one arm, and a few bags in the other. He was hoping to walk into a silent house but there was still high-pitched laughter and chatter coming from the kitchen. He shook his head and put the bags down, and tried to sneak past the kitchen to put Aaron down.

"Well if it isn't the man of the hour?" Claire said, easily spotting him.

She was holding a mug of coffee, as well as the rest of them. _Oh great, they're caffeinated, _he thought.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, he's asleep," he joked. Claire smiled. "I'm going to take him into his room."

"All right."

The great escape, he thought to himself. And maybe he'd just stay in there to avoid everyone. No. Claire wouldn't let him get away with that. He was lucky he got away with taking Aaron out for the day. He returned to the hallway, hoping to go slip past the kitchen to get the bags he'd left by the door. But Claire was quicker. She was already waiting by the doorway.

"Oh. Hello," he smiled innocently.

"Going somewhere?" she said in a hushed tone, grinning.

"Well, I _was_ going to sneak away and leave you all alone…" he whispered back and started to walk away slowly.

"Oh no you don't," she pulled him back. "You're not leaving me here with them any longer than you have."

"Well, see, I left some things by the door. So I thought I'd just – "

But she quickly pulled him into the kitchen.

"Look who's finally home!" she announced.

He had to smile. "Hello ladies."

"Hi Charlie," they all chimed.

"How are we doing today?"

"No, no, no! The groom can't see the dress!" Claire's sister cried, hiding the magazines.

Everyone was laughing. It would've been a living nightmare for any man to be stuck in a room with over a dozen caffeinated women all in a wedding frenzy. But Charlie remained content, and went along with it. Soon enough, the day sped by and everyone was gone. Relieved, Charlie and Claire sat on the couch enjoying the peace and quiet.

"Busy day?" he asked.

"You have no idea. How about you?"

"Oh!"

He suddenly sprang up and disappeared by the kitchen. When he returned, he had arms full of bags.

"Where did you go?" Claire asked, her eyes wide.

"Just a few places. I bought Aaron a few things. Including…" he dug into one of the bags and pulled out a small tuxedo. "This."

"Oh! How adorable!"

"Yeah. And now, at least one of us has our tux."

She laughed. "Well you've got the easy part. I've got to find the dress, the hair style, the make up, the – "

"Wow. You're going all out for this," he teased.

She laughed. "More like my family is. I don't think I even got a chance to pick anything _I _liked!"

"Well, all the girls want to make you look pretty," he said in mockery.

"I should have them make _you_ look pretty," she teased.

"Yes. Maybe they'll put some rouge on my cheeks to go with my stubble. And maybe a few little pink bows in my hair."

"And then you'll look very cute," she said with a playful smile. "All the boys will go crazy for you."

He laughed. "I'll get you for saying that, someday."

"Oh you will, will you?"

"You don't think so?"

"You want me to lie?"

"Hey!"

She laughed and he suddenly forced her into the cushions of the couch and started to kiss her. She kissed back and his hands starting inching up her shirt. The moment was quickly interrupted by Aaron's wailing. They broke apart and Charlie stared down at her, disheartened.

"Clearly Aaron wants us to wait for the honeymoon," he said.


	11. Chapter 11

Quickie:

Story _was_ set in mid-March. So we're clear on _that_. Because I'm a totally lame detail freak. xD

**Chapter 11**

It was no surprise that a few months passed by quicker than expected, leaving only one month until the actual wedding. In that time, Charlie and Claire had set a date – August 15th – picked a cake, the wedding location, and were just getting started with the guest list. It was late one night and they were still writing it. They sat at their worst: Claire in sweatpants and a t-shirt, her hair tied back, and Charlie with just flannel pajama pants and a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. However, he looked like he was ready to pass out.

"What about all the tailies?"

"Tailies?" Claire looked up at him uncertainly.

"You know. Ana-Lucia, Libby, Eko…"

"Oh right. Yeah. We can add them," she said, quickly scribbling names onto the ever-growing list.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "You have Jack on there?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's the twelfth time you asked me. And _yes_ I have him on the list."

"Oh. Right."

"What about Sawyer? You think we should bother inviting him?"

"Maybe we should ask Aaron," he joked.

She smiled tiredly. "I'll put him on the list."

"Wouldn't count on him showing up though."

"Did we forget anyone?"

"I don't know."

"Read it back to me."

"Are you mad!"

"Please, Charlie," she said, rubbing her head. "I just want to be sure."

He sighed. "All right. Mum, Dad, _your _mum, _your _dad, your sister, Liam, Karen, Megan, Patrick, Sinjin, - "

"Wait! What about Hurley?"

"Right," he said, scribbling Hurley's name down. "Do I really have to read the rest? There's so many!"

"All right. Just let me see the list."

He handed it to her and she read it in silence. Charlie let out a loud yawn, and tilted his head back, closing his eyes.

"Okay. I think we've got everyone," Claire finally said.

"You have Jack on there?" he muttered.

"Charlie!"

His head snapped forward and eyes opened. "Sorry."

She shook her head, smiling, but it quickly turned into a frown. "I wish Kate could come."

"Oh yeah," he said, regrettably.

"You don't think there's a chance they'd let her out just to come, do you?"

"Not a sodding chance," he yawned. "The prison she's in is bloody strict."

"It is?"

"S'what Jack told me last time I spoke to him."

"Oh." They were uncomfortably silent. "Well, I guess we're done then."

"Great." He stood. "We can go to bed then?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to put everything away."

"Okay."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and left the kitchen. She gathered all the papers together and put them into a neat pile in the center of the table. Then she got up and found her small phone number book next to the refrigerator. She found Jack's number and hoped she didn't wake him. Luckily, his voicemail answered and she left him a message to call her back. After putting the papers safely away, she left the kitchen and joined Charlie in the bedroom. He was already lying on the bed, probably fast asleep.

"Couldn't wait to get to sleep, I see," she said softly.

"It's late!" he protested in a muffled groan.

She turned out the light and lay with him, pulling the blankets closer around her.

"Well I'm sorry I kept you up with me. I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget anyone."

"Don't worry about it," he said, turning toward her to wrap his arms around her. "It was fun."

"It was actually, wasn't it?" she smiled in the dark.

"Mmhmm," he moaned wearily and kissed her. "Good night."

"Good night," she snuggled into his arms.

The next morning, Claire woke up and saw a lily had taken Charlie's place on the bed. She picked it up and smelled it, closing her eyes, savoring the sweet scent. Her eyes fluttered open when she heard the door creak open. Charlie came in with a tray filled with all sorts of breakfast foods. She couldn't help but smile.

"Morning," he greeted her.

"Good morning," she sat up. "What's all this?"

"A little breakfast in bed. I figured, since Aaron's sleeping in today, what better time?" he smiled at her.

"Thank you."

She leaned forward and kissed him fondly.

"You're welcome," he muttered when they broke apart, still in a daze.

She began to pick and nibble at the food laid out before her, and Charlie watched her thoughtfully.

"You know, I was thinking," Charlie started.

"Uh-oh," Claire said, with a smile.

He laughed. "I was thinking…we still haven't picked a place for our honeymoon."

"Honeymoon?" she looked up at him uneasily. "Charlie, I don't know. What about Aaron?"

"We can get someone to watch him. Your parents. Or mine."

"I don't know," she frowned.

"Come on. If only for a few days? Aaron will be fine."

"But what if he cries for me? Or what if he can't get to sleep? And – "

"Claire," he took her hand.

She looked down at their hands, still frowning.

"I promise you, he'll be fine. A few days away might do you good anyway."

She sighed then looked up at him smiling sheepishly. "No island getaways."

"No," he laughed. "Definitely not."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After Claire finished her breakfast – due to distractions, it took longer than it should have – she and Charlie sat at the kitchen table, discussing more of the wedding. Aaron shortly alerted them that he was awake by wailing loudly. Claire went to get him and then set him down in his highchair, and started to slice a banana, and smear peanut butter onto a slice of bread. She sat with Charlie again, after giving her son his food.

"How come you never make me a nice breakfast like that?" Charlie teased.

"Well have you ever asked?"

"I have to ask!" he said in mock surprise.

"Maybe," she said, teasingly, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"Well now I know where _I _stand…"

She gave up and laughed. "If you want me to make you banana slices and peanut butter bread for breakfast, then I will."

"Yes, yes. Very funny," he said, sipping his coffee. "So…I got a call this morning from Jack."

She looked up immediately, the amusement leaving her face.

"What'd he say?"

"Actually," he rubbed his head. "He was looking for _you_."

"Oh." She fidgeted with her mug.

He leaned forward and looked at her with a grin. She looked up, meeting his eyes.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Claire?"

Her heart raced. "What…what do you mean? I mean…no. Nothing."

He sat back, and chuckled. "I was joking."

"Oh," she sighed in relief.

His expression changed when she sighed. He didn't ask, however. He didn't want to know. And he knew that if it was something really important, she'd tell him anyway. When she was ready, that was.

"Well," she started, without looking up at him. "I actually called Jack last night. I wanted to see if he knew anything we could do to get Kate to come to the wedding."

"Oh," Charlie said, feeling better. "Did he think of anything?"

"He said he'd go and talk to the warden this morning."

"Well then," he smiled hopefully. "At least there's some hope."

"Yeah."

She suddenly got up and went back to the counter, looking for something but not too sure what. Charlie spared another glance at Aaron before getting up to go over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his head over her shoulder.

"You're all right?"

"Fine," she smiled.

"Just acting a little weird lately."

She laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," he said, starting to kiss her neck.

She turned around in his embrace, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.

"Oh you're just a daredevil now, aren't you? All in front of Aaron and everything," she murmured.

"Mmm," he said, working his way up to her lips.

She leaned her head back away from him, teasingly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned jokingly.

"I'm not afraid of you," she grinned.

"Oh yeah?" he said, starting to tickle her sides.

She laughed hysterically. "Charlie, stop!"

"I told you not to mess with me!"

"Come on – " she laughed. "Stop!"

He finally stopped and she was in his arms. She was too tired to even move, so he held her for a few minutes. She looked over Charlie's shoulder at Aaron, who was watching them innocently with his fist in his mouth. She giggled.

"Look at the looks we're getting from him!"

Charlie turned to look. "You think that means he approves?"

She laughed. "I hope so."

"Mmm, me too," he said, kissing her long and lovingly.

Still lip-locked, a knock at the door startled them both. They broke away and both looked in the direction of the door, then back at each other. Charlie rolled his eyes.

"Oh bloody hell," he muttered.

"I'll get it," she smiled.

"No. You stay with Aaron," he said, already headed for the kitchen doorway. "Make sure that fist stays in his mouth and not in my face."

She giggled, and sat with Aaron at the table. Charlie answered the door only to meet a tall, lean man, with a look of disgust in his eyes. He looked Charlie up and down, his face contorted.

"Would Claire happen to be around?"

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed.

"Might I ask who you are?"

In the kitchen, Claire wondered what could be taking this long. She picked up Aaron from his highchair and walked out to the hall.

"Charlie, who's at the…" she trailed when she saw who was there.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"_Thomas?_" Claire said, breathlessly.

"Claire," he smiled.

He brushed through Charlie and went over to her. He looked at Aaron, then back up at Claire again, with a wide smile and his eyes lit up.

"Is this him?"

She looked at him, confused. Then snapped out of it and looked down at Aaron.

"Um, yeah. Yeah this is him. But…um, Thomas, why are you here?"

"Hi there bugger," he said in a small voice, taking hold of Aaron's hand. "Can you say _daddy_ yet?"

"Chawey!" Aaron said, thoughtfully.

Thomas looked up at Claire, confused, then over at Charlie who was looking away nervously.

"You've been telling him that wanker's his dad?"

"Hey!" Charlie objected.

"Thomas! WHY are you here?"

"To see you, love. And my little boy. _Our _little boy."

Claire glanced at Charlie, trying to ignore the painful look on his face.

"Thomas, I think you should go."

"Go? But we're a family now. I'm not going!"

"Family?" Claire laughed. "_Now_ you want to assume the responsibilities? _Now_ you want to be his father? After all this time?"

"You know, I think I'll just…"

Charlie walked by and scooped Aaron out of Claire's arms.

"I'll take him to his nursery to play and leave you to it," he said quietly, nodding toward Thomas.

"Thank you."

As Charlie started to leave, Thomas scowled.

"Hey!"

Charlie stopped and turned around. "Where you think you're going with my son?"

"Oh. I just thought you and Claire could use some time alone to sort things," Charlie replied calmly.

"No. You don't go anywhere with my boy!"

"He's not yours, and he never will be, Thomas!" Claire said angrily. "Okay? So why don't you just go?"

"I told you, I'm not leaving without him!" he said, walking toward Charlie.

"Look, mate. I don't want any trouble. Why don't you and Claire just talk things through so no one gets hurt, right?"

"He's MY son!"

"I understand that. But you haven't been the father he needs, you know?"

"Oh and you have? Bloody Drivecrap's bass player - the rockstar wannabe!"

"It's Drive_shaft_. And yes, I have," he said, his anger level quickly rising. He handed Aaron back to Claire and glared at Thomas. "I was there for Claire during the end of her pregnancy, AND during the birth! I have always been there for her and Aaron! More than you ever have!"

"You know he's a druggie, Claire? Been said on the news and everything! You're going to expose _our_ son to that?"

"I _was_ a druggie! I've been clean for almost two years so get your sodding facts right!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Will you two stop it?" Claire finally interjected.

"Well he started it," Charlie pointed out.

"Just stop it, Charlie. Look, Thomas. You're allowed to see Aaron, okay? But not on a daily basis and not randomly like this! If you want to talk it out, we can come to some agreement, okay? But this is not going to solve anything."

"Since when do I have to make some _agreement_ to see my own son?" he snapped.

"He's not _your_ son!" Claire said, her voice rising.

"As far as he's concerned, you're nothing to him, mate!" Charlie chimed in. "You walked out on them both! You bloody well deserve nothing from Claire!"

"And _you_ do?" Thomas argued.

"Look, Charlie, just take Aaron to his nursey, okay? Thomas and I need to talk."

"Fine," he said, taking Aaron from her arms.

Thomas glared angrily as Aaron and Charlie disappeared from his sight.

"Let's go into the kitchen," Claire sighed.

Thomas looked around the apartment as he followed her to the spacious dine-in kitchen.

"Living like a queen now, eh, Claire?"

"Just stop it," she said, taking a seat.

He sat too. "What are you giving him to let you stay here?"

"Charlie's not like that, okay? He's good to me and Aaron and he cares about us. Personally, I think Aaron is doing just fine here."

"Oh yeah? Well, personally, _I_ think he'll be better with me."

Claire laughed. "Why do you suddenly care? You left us four months into the pregnancy!"

"I'm a changed man, Claire! I want to do what's right! And if you won't let me, I'll just find a way to make you." He pushed his chair back and got up. "I'll see myself out, thank you."

She buried her face in her hands, flinching at the slammed door. _Oh Thomas_, she thought to herself. He always had horrible timing…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Hearing the door slam, Charlie returned to Claire in the kitchen with Aaron in his arms. He sat on the chair beside her putting Aaron – who was playing with a toy - on his lap.

"Everything all right?"

She shook her head. "That's Thomas for you."

"I'd say he has impeccable timing," he joked.

"I just really hope that he's not serious about taking extreme measures."

"Don't worry. Whatever he said was a load of bullocks," he assured her.

She smiled. "Thanks Charlie."

"You're welcome," he grinned back.

The ringing phone interrupted their moment. Charlie lifted Aaron from his lap and held him out to Claire.

"I'll go get it," he explained.

Around ten minutes later, Claire was relieved to hear Charlie's footsteps, considering all she could hear was broken parts of the conversation – a conversation that sounded pretty interesting to hear. He entered the kitchen, scratching his head in confusion.

"Who was it?" she asked.

"That was Jack, actually."

"Oh?" she said, eagerly. "What'd he say? Did he say if Kate could come?"

He sat down again. "No. He said that Kate had been released from the jail already when he called."

"Shoot," she said, slumping back in the chair again. "We might not ever find her."

"That's the thing. Jack said that Kate's been staying with Sawyer after she got out."

"Really? Wow, that's different," she said, surprised. "I guess we'll have to send the invitation there."

"At least you know she'll be able to go."

"Do you think…" she looked down blushing. "I wonder if she would be my maid of honor."

Charlie grinned. "I think your sister might get a little mad."

"Oh please. My sister and I talk once – maybe twice – a year. Besides, Kate helped me give birth to Aaron and…I really want her to be my maid of honor."

"Well, I don't see why she wouldn't be then."

"Have you decided on your best man, yet?"

"Well," he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm still trying to decide. I know Liam would go absolutely bonkers if I didn't let him. But I don't know. I was kind of hoping Jack could do it. I mean you know, he was essentially everybody's hero on the island. I don't think it would be right without him."

Claire smiled. "Yeah."

"So…" he reached over and put his hand on hers. "We haven't exactly set a date yet."

"I know. I just can't decide if I want a spring wedding or a fall wedding. Both would be so beautiful."

"Why don't we have it next month – July? We could pull it off."

Claire scrunched her eyebrows. "We could…"

"And just think – I could adopt Aaron sooner and Thomas wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Claire laughed. "I'd have to start sending the invitations out now."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. But I'll have to make you help me write them all out," she teased.

"Oh. That."

"Yes, that. And don't think you'll be getting out of it mister."

"Great."

* * *

Later that day, another phone call sounded the house. Charlie, again, went to answer it before it would wake Aaron from his nap. He found Claire in the kitchen preparing lunch.

"Claire, the phone's for you," he said with a tiny frown.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure," he said. "It's a lawyer."

This time, she was the one to frown. Charlie saw her face and quickly put his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay. I'm sure it's nothing. He can't do anything to us, right?"

She nodded. "Okay."

She left the kitchen to get the phone. Charlie stood in the doorway of the kitchen, trying to hear what he could. He couldn't make out words, but Claire's voice went from dreadful to upset in an instant. The moment she said 'good-bye', Charlie went back into the kitchen and sat down, playing it cool. However he rose from his seat the moment she walked in, her eyes glazed with what would soon be falling tears.

"Claire, what's the matter?"

She looked at him. "Charlie…he wants to keep you away from Aaron."

"What!"

The tears started to fall and she fell into his arms, sobbing.

"He can't do that. He has no authority to do that, Claire."

"Yes he does, Charlie. He wants to put a restraining order on you."

"He can't kick me out of my own apartment."

She pulled away from him. "Yes, he can. My name was put on the lease last year, remember? Now it's technically _our_ apartment."

"Bollocks," he muttered, hugging her again. "Well, don't worry. We won't let him get away with it."

She nodded against his shoulder.

"We won't let him get away with it," he repeated, more to make himself believe it, because how _would_ he stop Thomas?


	15. Chapter 15

Quickie:  
I'm sorry it's really really really short! But at least I'm working on keeping it going on:)

**Chapter 15**

The next day, Charlie and Claire spent a great deal of time on the phone with their lawyers. Surprisingly, Aaron stayed quieted in his nursery during those times. So far, Claire hadn't managed to find a way to stop Thomas, nor had Charlie. However, Claire was able to make it so that Thomas couldn't see Aaron by putting a restraining order on _him. _Although, that wouldn't do much good considering Thomas could still keep Charlie from her and Aaron. During a spare moment that neither of them spent on the phone, Charlie found Claire sitting at the kitchen table, rubbing her temples. He sauntered over behind her, rubbing her shoulders.

"We'll figure something out."

She sighed. "Of all the things he could do, this is probably the worst!"

"Relax," he said, stopping and sitting down across from her. "Everything will work out, Claire. You'll see."

"You keep saying that, Charlie. But nothing is going to fix this. By tomorrow, if he gets what he wants, the restraining order will be in effect and Aaron and I will have to leave."

"What? No. I'm not letting you two leave. You have nowhere to go."

"I'll just…stay at my mom's or something. I don't know."

"No. You two can stay here. I'll go stay with Liam. It'll be much easier. You'll have Aaron's nursery here, and all the peanut butter," he said with a smile.

She smiled weakly. "I couldn't do that to you, Charlie. This is _your_ apartment."

"Actually, you signed the lease last month when it was renewed, remember? So technically, it's _our_ apartment. And being the…_fine_ gentleman that I am," he said, causing Claire to laugh. "I won't let you go and live with your mom in that tiny house of hers. There's barely enough room for your parents anyhow."

She couldn't help but smile at his generosity. It was the sweetest thing anyone could've done for her. And Aaron, of course. Thomas certainly wouldn't have done anything of the sort, were he in this situation with her in Charlie's place.

Her smile quickly melted back into a frown. "I just can't believe we're going to be alone here again."

"Don't worry. I'll call my lawyer and we'll figure it out, Claire. There's nothing to worry over!"

"I know. I'm just…going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

"And Aaron will miss you, I'm sure."

"Bollocks," he said with a sheepish grin.

"No. He knows your name and whenever you're not around or he can't find you he screams it out over and over."

"Aw. That's cute. Will you scream for me too?" he teased.

"Very funny," she grinned.

"Well I'm going to call Liam and make the arrangements now, then. I think you should really consider putting that restraining order on Thomas until he decides to compromise, you know?"

"Yeah…"

He got up and left the room, leaving Claire alone in the kitchen again. She instantly frowned. She missed him already and he was only in the other room. But in due time, he wouldn't be. Her heart ached. Thomas had made a real mess out of things this time. Maybe she should've been more reasonable with him. After all, he only wanted to see his son – which Aaron legally was. She picked up the phone again, but instead of dialing her lawyer, she called a different number…


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Charlie came back into the kitchen and found Claire was no longer there. Instead, he found her in the nursery, getting Aaron dressed. Although, she seemed much too content all of a sudden. He scrunched his eyebrows.

"Going somewhere?"

"Not me. Just Aaron," she told him.

"Aaron…is…going somewhere?" he said, confused.

"Yes. He's going to stay with his father for the rest of the week."

Charlie leaned against the doorway to prevent himself from falling over in shock.

"Well…when did this happen?"

"I called Thomas to sort this whole thing out. We came to an agreement."

"Oh. That's…great, I guess."

"Yep. He's going to get rid of the restraining order tomorrow."

"What did you agree to Claire?"

"And then no one will have to leave. Everything'll be just like it always is," she said, turning to walk across the room to get a diaper bag.

"Claire!" he said, grabbing her arm, forcing her to stop. "_What_ did you agree to?"

"Thomas is going to take Aaron every other week."

"What?!" he said, dropping her arm.

"He's his _father_, Charlie," she said, continuing to get the bag and start packing it. "I can't deprive Aaron of that. Or Thomas."

"A minute ago you said Thomas was nothing to him! Nothing to _you_!"

"He _is_ nothing to me. But he's Aaron's father, and there's no way I can change that."

"Claire, that agreement is rubbish! You can't let him get away with that."

"Don't tell me what's right and wrong, Charlie. I know what I'm doing."

"Clearly, you don't."

Suddenly she looked up at him, glaringly. "You think I don't know what's best for my son, Charlie?"

"No. I know you're a wonderful mother, Claire. But Thomas – he's not the type of father you want Aaron to have. He walked out on you, too scared to take responsibility. Why should it be any different now?"

"Well maybe he's changed, okay?" she said, frustrated with the caught zipper on the bag.

"Claire, would you just listen to me? You're making a mistake."

She sighed, finally giving up on the zipper. She looked up at Charlie, frowning. "I just don't want to lose you."

"You're not losing me, Claire," he assured her, softly.

"I don't know what to do," she murmured, leaning into his embrace.

"You need to come to some better agreement with him, first off."

"He won't listen to reason," she pulled away, looking at him now. "That was the only offer he gave me. And I just want this all to stop."

"Well, why don't you let him take Aaron for the rest of the week – considering it's only three days. And maybe he won't like the responsibility and come to his senses."

She laughed. "That doesn't solve the restraining order though," she said, going back to zippering up the bag.

"Well, we still don't know if the restraining order will go through. I mean he doesn't have a good enough reason to keep me away from you."

"If he tells them about the drugs…"

"I'm clean now, remember? They can give me a drug test and then he'd be out of luck."

She looked at him in amazement. "How do you manage to find an answer for everything?"

"Years of experience," he grinned.

"I wish I was as optimistic as you."

"You could be."

Aaron came crawling to Charlie and tried – but failed – to pull his pant leg. Charlie kneeled down and helped him to his feet, holding his hands.

"You need to get yourself walking, mate," he told Aaron.

"No," was his response, and sat down again, straight after.

"Someday you will."

"Cha-yee," Aaron said in his newly developing Aussie accent, holding his arms up to signify he wanted to be held.

"All right, bugger. Up we go," he said, lifting Aaron in his arms and standing up again.

"He loves you, you know," Claire told him.

Charlie smiled down at Aaron. "I know."

"He _will_ miss you."

"I know," he said, frowning.

Charlie put an arm around Claire, and they stood repressing frowns, gazing at Aaron…


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Thomas came an hour after their conversation, taking Aaron for the next three days. Charlie reassured Claire and forced her to focus on wedding plans instead of worrying over what would happen with Thomas. While she did that, Charlie drove to the post office to mail out all of the wedding invitations and pick up dinner for them. He returned to their home, relieved to see her frustrated over something other than Thomas – a wedding dress. She sighed, exasperatedly, then looked up to see Charlie entering with a pizza.

"Having fun?" he said, kissing her on the cheek as he put the food on the counter.

"I just can't decide which one. I thought this would be so easy. Like the perfect one would catch my eye and that would be it! But there's something about all of these that I don't like."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be so picky," he teased, looking over her shoulder at the catalogue.

"I just want it to be perfect. I want to _look_ perfect."

"You will," he said in all seriousness, his hand on her shoulder. "You always do."

She looked down, smiling. "Thanks."

"Now come on," he said as he reached over her and scooped up the magazines. "Let's forget about this for now and eat."

"Okay."

* * *

Three days soon passed and another dreadful knock on the door sounded the apartment. Claire sighed and went to answer it. Thomas stood with Aaron in one arm, his bags in the other. She took Aaron from him and let him in.

"How was he?" she asked, as if obligated.

"A perfect little angel," Thomas said with a grin. "Just like you."

She looked at Aaron, giving him a little smile, unsure how to respond to Thomas.

"We had a great time, didn't we little guy?" he said, giving him an affectionate nudge.

"Daddy," Aaron said thoughtfully.

Thomas' grin widened. "Taught him that, myself. Practiced each day."

Claire plastered a phony smile to her face. Inside, she knew it was going to hurt Charlie to hear Aaron say Thomas was his "Daddy". Even if it was the truth. She put Aaron down, and he sat at her feet.

"Listen, Thomas. I wanted to talk to you about our arrangement."

"Sure," he said, warily.

"Maybe we could cut the visits down a bit. Maybe instead of every other week, you could take him every week_end_?"

He laughed bitterly. "Why would I want to do that?"

"I'm just thinking of Aaron's future. I mean, what happens when he has to go to school?"

"We'll worry about that, when we get there, Claire. Right here, right now, this is what I want."

"I'm just thinking of what's best for my son, okay?"

"_Our_ son," he corrected her, angrily.

"Please. Just think about it, okay?"

"Did he put you up to this, Claire?"

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

"Of course not!"

"You were perfectly fine with the arrangement three days ago!"

"I've been thinking about it all the while, Thomas. And it's not fair to Aaron to be tossed back and forth. Please. Do it for him, if not for me."

Thomas looked downward, in thought. He saw Charlie approaching out of the corner of his eye.

"All right, fine. Weekends, then."

Claire brightened. "You're serious?"

"_Yes_, I'm serious, Claire!"

"Thank you," she sighed in relief.

He took a step toward her. "Of course. You know I love you, Claire," he murmured, as he embraced her in a passionate kiss.

Charlie stopped mid-step, mouth agape. Claire pulled away, scowling.

"Thomas, what are you doing!?"

"Bye, Claire," he grinned, staring at Charlie the whole time.

Claire turned around sharply, facing Charlie. Her eyes widened in horror. They stood staring at each other, while Aaron crawled to the closed door, pulling himself up on his feet.

"Daddy!" he shouted, banging his fist on the door.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Charlie's gaze reverted to Aaron now, dumbstruck. He immediately switched back to Claire's face.

"Charlie…" she started quietly.

"Oh. No, don't - "

"_He_ kissed _me_. I swear to you – "

"No, no!" he stopped her. "Don't bother. It's all right."

"But, Charlie, I – "

He put a finger to her lips. "Shh. It's _all right_."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. The ponce probably saw me coming."

"It didn't mean anything, Charlie. I swear it."

"I believe you."

She paused, then smiled. "Okay."

"Okay," he grinned too.

Aaron crawled over to Charlie and tried to pull himself up while holding onto Charlie's leg. Instead, he fell onto his bottom. Charlie looked down at him and Aaron raised his arms. Charlie laughed and picked him up.

"Hey bud. Miss me?"

"Chah-yie!" 

Charlie's face lit up. Claire smiled at the two. At least he hadn't said "Daddy", she thought.

"Wanna ride on my shoulders, Aaron?"

"Ride!" Aaron shouted. "Ride! Ride! Ride!"

Charlie raised him onto his shoulders. "Hold on."

As he zoomed toward the nursery, Aaron's giggles echoed throughout their home. Claire sighed a huge sigh of relief. Everything was going to be okay. She walked into the kitchen and sat at the table with the dozens of catalogues spread out on it again. Well…almost everything.

Later that night, Charlie finished tucking Aaron into his crib and joined Claire who still sat at the table amidst wedding plans.

"What're we working on tonight?" he said, joining her.

"I'm trying to plan out the seating chart."

"Does it really matter?"

She looked up and gave him a condescending look.

"Sorry."

"I've got almost everyone seated. Except for a few people. And it's driving me insane."

"What's the problem?"

"Well, I want to put Jack and Kate at the same table. Because they're the two most important people."

"Oh well, I always thought the bride and groom were," he joked.

She laughed. "You know what I mean, Charlie."

"So why can't you put Jack and Kate at the same table?"

"Because Kate is staying with _Sawyer_."

"Oh. Right. That's a problem."

"I mean, they could get along fine, right?"

"Right."

"But I'm not sure. I mean, they might get into a fight."

"Right."

"But…do you really think they would do that? It's a wedding, for god's sake. I'd think they would behave for _us_, at least."

"Right."

"Would you stop saying _right_?"

"Sorry."

She sighed. "I don't know what to do."

He took the seating chart from her hands and looked it over. "You forgot to seat one person."

She took it back from him. "Who?"

He reached and pointed at the name. "Ana-Lucia."

"Oh. Shoot. You're right." She sighed again, frustrated. "Now I'll have to start all over –"

"Not necessarily," he said, grabbing the chart back. "You could go ahead and put Jack, Kate, and Sawyer at this table. And there's still three extra seats."

"Two, if Jack brings someone."

"Okay. So two extra seats. You could put Ana-Lucia there and then there's one more." 

"She might be uncomfortable with all of them. I mean, how well could she know everyone?"

"Well then, that last seat could be who she brings," he tapped the chart.

She took the chart from him again and looked it over. "You know, that actually could work. Charlie you are my hero."

"I always thought so," he teased.

She smiled. "We're running out of things to do."

"We're running out of time to do things," he pointed out.

"Can you believe it's only a month away now?"

"Are you scared?"

She laughed. "What do I have to be scared of?"

"I don't know," he said, bashfully. "You're not going to get cold feet on me, at the last minute, are you?"

"Of course not."

"You'd better not."

"And if I do?" she teased.

"Well then, I might just be tempted to go ahead and marry Jack."

She laughed. "If you did that, I think even _he_ would be surprised."

"Nah. Jack's my mate. Why, we'd make one good-looking couple," he jokingly envisioned it.

"And who would play the role of the bride?" she poked fun.

"Hey! What are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing," she giggled as she went back to the seating chart.

He pulled the chart from her grasp, dangling it overhead.

"Hey!" she protested. "Give it back!"

"I don't think so."

She reached over the table to get it but he held it high above her reach. She kept climbing further over the table to reach it but he got up and held it higher and higher. She sat up on the table, her legs dangling over the ledge, and huffed in defeat.

"You're cheating."

"No," he retorted. "You're just short."

"Not nearly as short as you are," she shot back.

He raised his eyebrows, pretending to be shocked, making her laugh. He went to her and put an arm around her back and under her knees, carrying her.

"Hey! What're you doing?"

"Making you take those words back," he said mischievously.

He tossed the seating chart over his shoulder and it lightly dropped to the ground. Claire looked over his shoulder laughing as he carried her toward their bedroom.

"That was my seating chart!" she echoed.


	19. Chapter 19

Quickie:

Sooooooo sorry that I haven't been updating this regularly. I'll try to more often.  
And sorry this is so short.

**Chapter 19 **

The next morning Charlie was woken up earlier than Claire when Aaron started screaming his name. He went to the nursery and carried Aaron into the kitchen to prepare a surprise breakfast for Claire.

"All right buddy. You have to give me your word you won't tell your mum about this," he said to Aaron, who sat in his height chair playing with Cheerios. "Okay?"

"Okay," Aaron said, of course having no idea what he was agreeing to.

"Right. Now this is our little secret." he said, holding his index finger to his lips, "Shh!"

"Shh!" Aaron repeated.

"There you go. You've got it."

"Got it!"

Charlie laughed. "You copying me, mate?"

"Mate?"

"How about 'Aaron'?"

"Ah-yon."

"Close enough," he said, taking a Cheerio from Aaron's tray.

"Chah-yie!" he said in protest. "Mine!"

"Sorry bud."

Charlie left Aaron with his Cheerios and started to prepare their breakfast. However, halfway through his cooking, the surprise was ruined when Claire walked into the kitchen. Charlie didn't realize it at first, but Aaron knew right away.

"Mummy!" he shouted in glee. Then he got a very serious face and put his finger up to his mouth. "Shhh!"

"Why 'shh' Aaron?" she said.

"Cha-yie!" he said in response.

Charlie turned around, stunned. "Aaron! We had a deal!"

"Shh!"

"Well good morning," Claire smiled, kissing him.

"Morning," he sighed. "I _was_ making breakfast…"

"Oh so are you going to stop now that I'm here, then?"

He grinned. "No."

The phone suddenly began to ring, interrupting everything. Claire went to the living room to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Claire! Hi, it's Kate!"

"Oh, Kate! Hi! How are you?" she said, excited to hear from her friend.

She took the cordless phone and walked back into the kitchen to sit with Aaron. She looked down as she heard crunching beneath her feet – Cheerios.

"I'm great. How are you?"

"Good. Good. Just sitting here with Aaron and his Cheerios," she smiled at her son.

"How is he? Must be getting big by now, I bet."

"Yeah. He's great. Talking and starting to walk already."

"How's Charlie doing?"

"Oh he's good," she glanced at Charlie, unable to repress her smile as she watched him dancing at the stove. "And what about Sawyer? How's _he_ doing?"

"Well, Sawyer's…_Sawyer_. He's as good as always."

Claire laughed. "That's so strange. And unexpected, you know? You and Sawyer? No one would've thought."

"Yeah," she replied. "Well…what can I say?"

"I know. I mean, who would've thought me and Charlie right?" Claire joked.

"What are you going on about?" Charlie asked.

Claire only shook her head.

"Yeah. That's amazing," Kate said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," she smiled to herself. "So, you're coming to the wedding, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Sawyer too?" Claire asked cautiously.

Kate laughed. "Well it took a little convincing, but he's coming too."

"Great! I can check you guys off the list. We'll all be so happy to see you. A-and Sawyer too. So…" Claire started. "I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"How would you feel about coming here a week before the wedding?"

"What for?"

"Well, turns out the tailor I hired that's making the dresses does adjustments in a week's time. I mean, I guessed your sizes, but just in case, you know?"

"Right…" Kate said.

Claire waited to hear her response, but Kate remained quiet. She was growing a bit impatient, so she added,

"We have an extra room here."

"Um, I'll have to talk to Sawyer about that one. I'm not too sure he'd be too thrilled with the idea."

"Oh," Claire said, disheartened.

Aaron suddenly started throwing his Cheerios at his mother and on the floor. She signed, starting to pick them up.

"But I'll try!"

"Okay. Well, Aaron is starting to get fussy over here. I'd better go."

Kate laughed. "All right. I'll call you back when Sawyer and I have talked."

"Okay, great. I'm so glad you're coming."

"Me too. Say hi to Charlie for me."

"I will. Bye Kate!"

She hung up the phone, and came back to the kitchen, bumping right into Charlie.

"Were you planning to discuss this whole week early thing with _me_?"

She smiled. "I didn't think you'd mind."

"Well how do you know I don't?" he said in mock anger.

She folded his arms. "Okay. Do you mind Charlie?"

"Of course not."

She laughed and walked past him back into the kitchen.

"But it'd be nice to discuss things before we go inviting random people into our house!" he called after her.


	20. Chapter 20

Quickie:

SORRY for the long delay! I've been working on this story, I promise but not as often as I could have. I'll try and update more for you all!

ENJOY IT!

**Chapter 20 **

Later that day, Charlie went out with Liam to go and buy his tux. Claire sat home with Aaron and they played in the nursery for awhile. She took him for a walk after that, and when they got back home, she set him down on the couch to watch his favorite movie until his fell asleep. The house was quiet now as Aaron napped, and Claire worked on more wedding plans.

The phone rang again, echoing through the house. Claire ran to pick it up, thankful that Aaron didn't wake up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Claire," said Kate.

"Oh. Hey Kate. What's going on? Have you spoken to Sawyer?"

"Yeah, I did talk to him. And I wanted to let you know that we'll be coming down that week early."

"Oh that's great!" she said, glad to hear it. "There wasn't any hassle, was there?"

"You didn't call her!" said another voice from the background. Claire guessed it was Sawyer.

"No, I uh – " Kate started. "Hey! Sawyer!"

Claire heard her shouting now in the background. What was going on!?

"Claire, Kate'll have to call you back," Sawyer said into the phone, startling her.

The phone then hung up and Claire sat there, wondering what had just happened.

* * *

Time passed by quickly, and soon it was only one week until the wedding. Claire had finally picked out and been fitted for her dress, and Charlie's tux was bought. The wedding was nearly done being planned, with the exception of choosing a reception hall. It was the morning that Kate and Sawyer were flying in, and Claire hurried to get herself and Aaron dressed.

"Charlie, did you pack his bag?" she called from Aaron's nursery.

"Got it!"

"Don't forget to put his bottles in there okay?" she said, buttoning her son's overalls.

"Already done!"

"How much time do we have?"

He came into the room, the bag on his shoulder. "Well it takes about a half hour to drive down there. We have about 20 minutes until they land."

"Oh great! Now we're going to be late," she said, annoyed.

"Relax. They have to get off the plane and get their bags anyway. We'll make good time."

"All right," Claire lifted Aaron, who was now fully dressed, in her arms. "Let's go."

The drive was smooth and quick, and Aaron fell asleep right away. Claire kept glancing at her watch, anxious to get there.

"Stop that," Charlie said.

"What?"

"Checking your watch every two seconds. You're driving me insane."

"Sorry. We're just really cutting it short."

"Well it's not _my_ fault Aaron was fussy with his bath."

"No, but you know how he is when you wash his hair."

"I was just trying to help."

"Well from now on, why don't you just leave bath time to me, okay?"

"You know, I'm starting to get the feeling you don't want me around Aaron anymore," Charlie teased. "You don't want me to feed him, don't want me to bathe him. I mean is there anything you'd _like_ me to do?"

"Very funny."

"Baby hog."

She laughed. "Well did he come out of your stomach or mine?"

"Bloody hell," he muttered, jokingly.

He pulled up in front of the airport, and before he could say another word, Claire was already out of the car and hurrying inside.

"Oh sure. Don't bother asking if _I _wanted to go in. I'll just sit here with the baby," he said to himself, getting out to wait outside the car.

Inside, Claire stopped and searched for Kate or Sawyer. She didn't see either of them, but she stayed put and kept looking. A few moments late, she spotted Kate who had spotted her. She waved, eagerly. Kate hurried over to her and she opened her arms for a hug.

"It's so good to see you! How are you?"

"Great," Kate replied. "How are _you_?"

"I'm great, now."

"Where's Charlie?"

"Oh, he's outside in the car with Aaron." She glanced around the airport. "Is Sawyer…"

"Oh he's coming. He's getting our luggage…" Kate said, trailing at the end.

She spotted Sawyer, looking grumpy as usual, with arms full of bags. She smiled and waved. Kate hurried to him and took a few bags from him, and Claire saw them say something, but couldn't tell what.

"Hello, Sawyer," she greeted when they were close enough.

"Hey yourself, mamacita," he said, putting the bags down and giving her a hug.

She was completely taken aback by the gesture and couldn't help but feel embarrassed. She felt her face heat up and knew she'd flushed.

"So um, Charlie's just outside. Should we go then?"

"Sure," Kate answered.

"Lead on," Sawyer nodded.

She led them outside where Charlie greeted them both with hugs. He was as happy as she was to see them both, and probably even happier to have another male friend to hang around with, other than Liam.

"You two sods need to make more of an appearance now and then," he told them.

Kate smiled. "We'll try. How've you been?"

"Never better," he grinned at Claire. "Oh! Hey! Do you want to see Aaron?"

"Sure."

"Right, then. He's right back here. Come on out, bugger," he said lifting Aaron from his car seat.

"I thought he was asleep," Claire protested.

"He woke up the minute you left," he lied.

Kate smiled at the toddler. "Hi Aaron," she said softly.

"Hi," he replied, sleepily.

After playing with him a few minutes, Kate turned to them.

"Maybe we should get going."

"Sure," Claire answered.

They put their luggage into the car and the drive to their apartment began. Aaron sat in his car seat between Kate and Sawyer – something Sawyer wasn't very happy about. Charlie and Claire talked amongst themselves quietly, about the wedding, about Aaron, about things they had planned for Sawyer and Kate's stay. Kate and Sawyer stayed quiet, and Aaron fell back to sleep.

A little while later, they pulled into the parking lot of their apartment. Charlie led everyone into the building and they piled into the elevator.

"Home sweet home," Charlie said as he helped them into the apartment.

They watched as Kate and Sawyer looked around in awe.

"Your little band got you all this...?" Sawyer said, astounded.

"Little?" Charlie said, annoyed. "We had immense crowds at _all_ of our concerts! People loved us!"

"How many concerts you say you played?" Sawyer said with a smirk.

Charlie narrowed his eyes at him, and ignored him. "Not to mention we went platinum just after the plane crashed. Crazy sales!" he grinned at Kate. "I told you."

Kate smiled. "It's amazing."

"Here. I'll show you to your room. Take Aaron, Charlie," Claire said, breaking the conversation.

She brought them to the guest room - a large bedroom with crème walls. The bedspread was beige with a simple floral print. Brown wooden blinds covered part of a wall.

"You two can just make yourselves at home and get settled in. There's also a bathroom in this room, right over there," Claire pointed. "Makes it easier so you don't have to walk all the way down the hall to the other one."

"Mind if I smoke?" Sawyer asked, already pulling out his pack.

"Actually, it'd be better if you did outside. There's a balcony right over there," she said, showing them the sliding doors behind the wooden blinds.

Sawyer dubbed it his smoking deck.

"You two just get settled. Take as long as you need. We'll be somewhere around here whenever you're ready," she told them.

"Thanks," Kate smiled at her.

"I'm so glad you're here," she said, just before closing the door. And she was. She really was.


	21. Chapter 21

Reader Messages:  
Well! It's been quite a while since an update. I finally stumbled back across this and decided this needed to be finished. Here's hoping there are still eyes out there willing to read what they left behind, or some new eyes to enjoy it. Apologies to any faithfuls that this took so long. Life happens, you know? =)

Also, quick sidenote: For those of you who hadn't noticed years ago, this is a brief crossover from my Sawyer/Kate fanfiction (Baby Steps) so if you're a reader of both expect bits of each in the other.

Happy reading!

**Chapter 21**

While Kate and Sawyer were busy getting settled, Claire went back into the kitchen to sit with Charlie and Aaron. Charlie was flipping through a newspaper while Aaron sat in his high chair with juice. Claire sighed, happily, and joined Charlie at the table.

"You do realize what you've gotten us into, don't you?" he joked.

"Be nice," she grinned. "They're our friends."

"Yeah but just think. We don't have any polar bears here this time, in case things go wrong."

Claire laughed. "Honestly, Charlie. It's Kate and Sawyer. I'm sure the worst we'll have to deal with is Sawyer's nicknames."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who got socked in the face."

Claire's eyebrows furrowed. "When was that?"

Charlie's face went pink. "It was just...a misunderstanding."

Before she could protest his vagueness, Kate appeared in the doorway, slightly flustered. Not a moment later, Sawyer was behind her. He sighed and looked away. Kate looked at the floor. Claire looked back and forth between them both. The tension between the two was excruciating. She wondered if Charlie could feel it.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Fine," Kate said, quickly.

"You're sure?" Charlie tried.

"Yeah, we're good," Sawyer said, with a sigh. After an awkward moment of silence, he added, "I'm gonna go to the store."

"For what?" Charlie asked, confused.

"A _tooth brush_," he replied, glaring at Kate.

"Oh. Well, I'll come with you!" Charlie jumped up from his seat.

"That's all right, daddy-o. I'll go myself."

"No, it's okay. Besides, you don't have a car. Planning to walk the mile, then?" he joked.

Sawyer sighed in defeat. "Well then, guess we may as well find one while we're out there."

"Great."

Charlie went back over to Claire and gave her a quick kiss, and gave Aaron a pat on the head.

"Anything you need?" he asked softly.

"No, thanks."

"Okay. I'll be back soon," he told her.

Sawyer glanced at Kate but she looked away, angrily. While Claire tried to hide her curiosity, Charlie cut past Sawyer, grabbing his keys off the hook.

"Ready, mate?"

Sawyer looked one last time at Kate but she was looking at the floor. Charlie glanced at Claire and saw a brief expression of worry cross her face. He gave her a look that said _I'll take care of this_ and led Sawyer out of the apartment. Evidently, he did feel the tension.

* * *

After they left, Kate sighed and took a seat at the table with Claire. Seeing the pained look on Kate's face, Claire couldn't resist asking one more time.

"Are you and Sawyer getting along okay?"

Kate forced a smile. "We'll be fine. Just…a stupid argument."

"If you're sure…" she responding, disbelieving.

"I am."

"Okay," Claire said, forced to accept it. Instead, she changed the topic. "So, how do you like LA so far?"

"It's different. I don't know if I've seen enough of it to know how I feel yet, you know?"

"Yeah. It's really great, though. I mean, I didn't think I would like it, but I really do. And Aaron loves it. When he's old enough, Charlie's promised to take us to Disneyland!"

"Sounds like fun."

"Mum!" Aaron said from his chair. "Nana's!"

Kate smiled. "I didn't realize he could talk already."

"Oh yeah," Claire said, getting up to peel a banana. "It's hard to get him to stay quiet these days."

"I'm sure."

Aaron looked at Kate, curiously. "Who?"

She grinned. "I'm Kate."

"Kay," he tried to mimic.

She laughed. "That's close enough."

"Muma! Kay!" he informed his mother, pointing to Kate.

"Yes, Aaron. That's Kate."

After slicing the banana for Aaron, Claire sat back down with Kate. But this time she noticed her friend had gone pale. She frowned.

"Are you all right?"

Kate nodded. "I'll be right back."

In a flash Kate was up and running, clutching her stomach. Claire watched her zoom down to their room and moments later heard the toilet flush. Her heart filled with dread. Kate was sick a week before the wedding. What if she caught it and they had to call the wedding off? What if Aaron got it? She looked at Aaron and suddenly had a thought. Could Kate be...? The dread had quickly burst into excitement.

"Sorry. I…needed to check something," Kate said softly as she sat back down.

Claire smiled up at her, knowingly. "Do you know when it's due?" She fought not to laugh as Kate's face went wild with emotions. Claire only shook her head in assurance. "I was pregnant too, you know. It's not hard to tell what's going on when you've been through it."

Kate looked down and Claire knew she was right. "February."

"You haven't told anyone about it, have you?" Claire asked, shaking her head.

"No," Kate said, looking up at her again. "Only Sawyer knows."

Claire nodded. "Are you…"

"Yeah. We're keeping it."

She smiled again. "That's great. Congratulations."

"Thanks," she smiled at the floor.


End file.
